iPhone 6 fever is fading as most of those who stood in line for hours and pre-ordered their new toy now have it.
The next thing new owners of an iPhone 6 or 6 Plus will deal with is what to do if (or when, for some of us) it gets dropped, cracked, drowned, or in this case, bent.
Should everyone get insurance for their phone?
That is a personal decision and likely depends on how careful you are with your phones and the financial impact that replacing an iPhone 6 would have for your situation, according to NBC.
If you’re like me and have a history of killing phones with carelessness, like a 15 minute soak in a hot tub or a swim in a tall glass of sweet tea, perhaps insurance is the way to go.
There are many options out there if you choose to insure your new iPhone 6. Apple offers the AppleCare warranty that has limited coverage for a year and 90 days of customer support.
You could also buy their AppleCare+ extended warranty, which costs an extra $99. This warranty will cover limited damage, replace the iPhone 6 two times, and bump it up to two years of customer service.
The down side is, you are subject to a $79 service fee for each incident in which you use the warranty.
There are other options, so no pressure to buy AppleCare for your new iPhone 6. You can even get insurance from many insurance carriers and retailers. However, these generally require deductibles and can tout hefty premiums.
Some carriers like Verizon, AT&T and T–Mobile offer insurance, but they also are prone to high deductibles and aren’t great with covering repairs.
You could also go with an independent local repair service, which might not carry the hefty premiums and deductibles, but while they are usually cheaper, they may be limited in what they can provide for the iPhone 6.
The other option is just to forget it. Don’t buy any insurance.
This is the advice given by some consumer watchdogs.
Bob Hunter, director of insurance at the Consumer Federation of America, says, “Insurance should cover big events that really harm your family’s economic situation. Phones, I think, are not usually worth insuring. Just make sure the contents you have are backed up on the cloud or somewhere.”
Good advice for new iPhone 6 and 6 Plus owners! Just try to have a back-up plan in place, like the folks at Consumer Reports suggest in their smart phone buying guide.
“A better idea: Keep your old phone until the new phone’s contract ends,” the buying guide suggests. “If you lose or break the new phone, reactivate the old one and use it until you qualify for a free or low-cost phone.”
What do you think? Is smartphone insurance for your new iPhone 6 a good idea or not? Why?